The artists and scholars of A Studio in the Woods, a program of the ByWater Institute at Tulane University located in lower Algiers, shared their love of music, art, drama and science with the public Saturday (Nov. 10) as the gates were opened for the 8th annual FORESTival: a celebration of art and nature.

"As staff, we get to see and hear all the amazing things our artists and scholars are up to," said residency coordinator Cammie Hill-Prewitt. "But I love that FORESTival is the one day a year we get to bring folks into our Woods and see and experience it for themselves."

Musical performances by GIVERS, The Original Pinettes Brass Band, and Les Cenelles entertained visitors in the meadow as scientists guided families along trails through the woods on bug and tree nature walks.

Joe Darensbourg with Les Canelles sang the lyrics of ancient songs in Creole. "It's the language of my grandparents," he said. "Many don't know that the Creole music and language is older than Cajun."

Brandon Ballengee showed youngsters a giant shark's tooth in "Crude Life," his portable museum depicting the biodiversity of the Gulf of Mexica after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. As he explained the specimens in his trunk, his six-year-old son Victor helped 8-year-old Rohan Ibarra work the small microscope. "I'm going to be a paleontologist," Victor proclaimed.

Resident and guest artists helped children create a clay and twig forest on tables in the Kids in the Woods Studio as others participated in Antenna's Draw-a-Thon and creating Paper Monuments.

Dora Sernovitz created a big marshmallow on a stick as her contribution to the clay forest. "It's just a pretend marshmallow," the 2-year-old explained. "You can't eat it!"